NAGPUR: Asian champion Divya Deshmukh utilized her opening advantage well to outplay Russia’s Kseniya Norman to remain in lead in the World Junior girl’s chess championship currently in progress at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Monday.
The top seeded Divya took just 36 moves to win her eighth-round contest against Norman and maintain a half-point lead with an unbeaten run in the World Chess Federation (FIDE) organized U-20 championship.
A day after playing out a draw with second seed, Divya made most of Norman’s erroneous play after the opening to garner full point and lead the pack collecting seven points. She is being closely followed by Armenia’s Mariam Mkrtchyan and compatriot Rakshitta Ravi at the joint second spot with 6.5 points.
The top board battle between Divya and Norman saw the Indian International Master (IM) opting for the Queen pawn opening while her lower ranked Russian opponent chose the Fianchetto variation of King's Indian defense. In the queen, rook and bishop endgame, Divya became two pawns up and Norman was left with no option but to resign. The Russian surrendered on the 36th turn.
On the second board, Mariam defended well with the black pieces to get the better of Abdinova Narmin while Indian WIM Rakshitta drubbed Ayaulym Kaldarova of Kazakhstan to maintain their joint second position.
On Tuesday, Divya will defend with the black pieces against compatriot Rakshitta.
